(Podgorica, 10 June 2012) – We are calling on all citizens, especially the sympathizers of the Socialist People’s Party (SNP) to help us in a great spring cleaning in order to separate the wheat from the chaff. The event will be held on Monday, June 11 at 10:30am in front of the SNP’s headquarters (Vaka Durovic Street no. 5, near Hotel Ambassador). We will be donating brooms, brushes, towels and other cleaning materials to help the leadership of the party decide upon leaving Montenegro’s parliament and to ask that MPs with links to organized crime in the party are eliminated from its ranks.
Following the recent expose of the illegal business dealings of the country’s First Bank (Prva Banka), outlining how the bank violated the country’s laws and regulations as well as the prescriptions of Montenegro’s Central Bank (CBCG), it is important to highlight the role of Montenegro’s Assembly in monitoring developments over the past several years. The Committee on the Economy, Finances and the Budget, headed by MP Aleksandar Damjanovic, visited the First Bank in May 2010 in order to investigate how the bank had managed its bailout package approved by the Assembly. Even though it was confirmed that the Bank was clearly violating the law at the time, the Assembly delegation headed by Damjanovic as well as DPS functionaries Zarija Franovic and current CBCG government Radoje Zugic, did not notice any wrongdoings.
We believe that the Assembly of Montenegro (parliament) is incapable of carrying out its monitoring role, which is one of its basic functions, since it is effectively captured by the pre-arranged deals and decisions that are promoted within this body by members of the ruling party, but also by some members of the opposition.
For this reason we believe that the time has come for all honest representatives that aren’t tied to the mafia to immediately leave the parliament, thereby demonstrating that they no longer wish to give legitimacy to the decisions that are being taken at the expense of citizens and the public interest.
At the same time, we are calling on media representatives to cover tomorrow’s action that is scheduled before the SNP headquarters at 10:30 am (Vaka Dakovic Street, no. 5).
